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“Really good,” I say, almost choking on the words and hoping she doesn’t spot the lie. “Thank you. It’s always nice to be welcomed somewhere.”
A small smile flits across her lips, but it looks almost staged, as if someone wrote it on a script that she had to smile at this point, so that’s what she’s doing.
Brawler puts his arm around my shoulders. “Kyla has to go now, Mom.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m glad I got to meet you.”
“Me too,” I tell her, before Brawler leads me toward the door.
“I’m going to walk Kyla out. I’ll be right back up.”
She bobs her head, and Brawler ushers me out the open door. We’re silent as we move toward the stairs at the end of the hallway. Before I can think of anything to say, Brawler speaks up, “She’s changed a lot since my sister died. She didn’t used to be like that.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him because what am I supposed to say? I can’t lie. I’m not going to tell him it was really great to meet his mom because he’d see through that shit. She was half a person, like going through the motions of everyday life. It was awful.
“Did you really eat those cookies?”
“Fuck no.”
He barks out a laugh, the area around his eyes crinkling adorably. Right before we hit the front entrance, he pulls back on my hand before letting it slip through his fingers. We face each other. With others milling around the lobby, there’s nothing we can do or say to one another right now. Instead, I smile and nod as the sapphire blues in his eyes focus on me.
Brawler and I just shared something special. If I could do anything differently, it’s that I wouldn’t have to hide it.
But because we want to stay alive, we have to.
16
When I get in the car, I expect Magnum to give me shit about being careful, but he doesn’t. Brawler walks back toward the apartment building, and Magnum takes over like this is a trade-off of highly valuable belongings between dealers.
“Find anything you wanted to keep?” he asks as he puts the car in Drive.
I shake my head. “Everything was pretty much destroyed.”
“The thing you wanted though?”
“Safe,” I tell him.Thankfully.If anyone found out who I was, I’d end up dead, for sure.
I bite down on my lip, my heart coming to a startling halt. When Johnny finds out why I’m here,he’sgoing to be devastated. Furious. Confused.
Betrayed.
Just like me. Just like I felt when I heard the news about what someone did to me.
“You okay?” Magnum asks. “You’re pale all of a sudden.”
“Fine,” I croak. “Great.”Fan-fucking-tastic. I have feelings for a guy who I’m intent on ruining. You know, the usual shit when it comes to the Heights.
“You can talk to me,” Magnum urges, shifting in the driver seat. He looks over his shoulder, sharing his attention between the road and me. His acute hazel brown eyes read me. If anything, Magnum is damn good at his job. Too fucking good for my liking.
“Why do you care?” I ask, head swimming. “You work for Big Daddy K and Johnny, and yet, you wanted to get me out of here. You let me spend time with Oscar and Brawler even though you know Johnny would be pissed,” I say, remembering he’d done this even before the shootout with Oscar. He let me go to his football game by myself. My brow furrows as I wait for his reaction.
His copper scruff can’t keep the tightening of his jaw hidden away from me. “Everyone needs a friend. Moreso when you’re thrust into a situation you can’t handle.”
“I can handle this,” I scoff, hackles rising down my spine.
“You can handle being in a shootout? You can handle having a gun being pulled on you?” He shakes his head. “We weren’t designed to handle those things.”
“Sounds like you’re in the wrong profession.”